John Pickering had over the past ten years changed his profession from teacher to proprietor and head of an iron foundry employing 52 men and four boys.
In 1864 John Pickering moved his family to Scotland and set about constructing his new works in Netherton Wishaw Lanarkshire, which came on stream in 1865.
Robert, aged 16, joined his father in the new operation in Wishaw, building railway carriages, wagons and carrying out repairs on rolling stock.
To compete as an international player Robert required to raise capital and in 1888 floated the business as a private limited company as R Y Pickering & Co Ltd, with himself as managing director.
At the end of the 19th century Robert Young Pickering purchased the Dumfriesshire estate of Conheath and through the Edwardian years carried out major improvements.
In the 1901 census we find his nephew John Johnston King Pickering 1880–1914 son of his brother Jonathan, living with Robert and Ellen at the mansion house of Conheath.
R Y Pickering & Co Ltd found the first decade of the 20th century challenging times with dwindling profits and the loss of home market share.
Life must have become very tough for Robert Pickering in 1909, with mounting personal debts, the death of his wife Ellen and company losses of £5,628.
His life in retirement enabled Robert to indulge in his passion for books, and to house them he extended Conheath in 1919 with a new library and billiard room, using the Ayr architect James Morris.